Chasing Red Camellias
by MurphyPi
Summary: Red camellias represent love or a noble death. Uchiha Kasumi was of the opinion, that both were goals worth chasing. No matter the cost. / A Kakashi x OC slow burn fic
1. A Masked Beginning

_Heya,_  
_nice to read you._

_This is a spin on the Uchiha-OC trope, that miraculously survives the Uchiha no Jiken and takes care of Sasuke like a doting mother only to fall in love with Kakashi, once the grumpy jōnin becomes the boy's leader._

_Yeah...no._

_That's not happening here. No worries. I try to make my stories logical and organic._  
_This is going to be gritty and raw and bloody and damn painful. Because the whole damn Naruto Universe is traumatic. And let's admit it, that's part of what draws us in. At least, that's what fascinates me enough to write stories. The intricacies of traumatic events and their effects on interhuman dynamics._  
_...or something like that._

_The summary isn't much (yet? I don't know), so thanks for clicking anyway!_

_Have fun with the first chapter and I'd appreciate feedback in any way; favorites, follows, reviews or criticism._

_Read ya soon,_  
_Murphy_

* * *

Shinobi sandals made only soft noise, as they hastened over tatami mats. A gentle rustle of fabric came from the midnight-blue yukata. The groaning sound of a tatami mat lifted. Then quick steps on stairs. The sliding of a door.  
A deep bow. Long, black hair spilt like a waterfall over delicate, strong shoulders.  
"Please, excuse my lateness, otō-sama."  
A melodic, firm voice. Female and young.

"You are excused. Sit, Kasumi."

The girl straightened up and hastily sat down next to her twin brother, her legs perfectly folded underneath her body in a seiza. Some of the elder shot her disapproving glares. Her brother gifted her with a small, rare smile. Kasumi smiled back, as their chakras mingled in an intimate greeting. Two flames playing with each other in a familiar dance.  
Kasumi let her gaze drift in the dimly lit room. She knew everyone; the elders, her father, some middle-aged warriors, a few women. Their clan symbol was proudly displayed on the wall behind her father. It elicited a conflicting feeling of warmth and nausea within Kasumi, so she hastily looked away.  
"As I said", one of the elders, continued with a sharp look at Kasumi, "the treatment is unacceptable. Over six years of humiliation. It's time we _do_ something about it, Fugaku."  
"And what do you suggest we should do, Hibiki?", Kasumi's father asked calmly. He was as stoic as always, but she could see the wrinkles around his mouth. He was tired.  
Hibiki had no answer to that, apparently, as he shrunk back a bit in his sitting position.

"Do we have a lead on who the defector was?", Old Kanna spoke up, her eyes wise and her voice soft.  
"Not one measly trail", a middle-aged man growled out. Junpei, a high official within the Konoha Military Police Force.  
Old Kanna closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "Then we need to go through all clansmen KIA", she said slowly and nodded again. "See if their bodies were recovered or not."  
Junpei's expression hardened. That was an almost impossible task. "Fugaku-sama?", he said towards his clan head, a slight incredulous tone to his dark voice.  
Fugaku hesitated, as he pondered. The flicker of fire illuminating the sharp angles of his face.  
"There doesn't seem to be another option", he then said and Junpei visibly slumped. "Start with fifty years back."  
"What about the village?", Hibiki pushed yet again, his dark eyes gleaming with hatred in the dim light. Kasumi's mouth twitched. She had never liked him.

"Our forces can be organised to strike at any given moment", Asuka said lowly, his face grim, but determined. Kasumi swallowed. She felt Itachi slightly stiffen next to her.  
Fugaku nodded. "Then organise them", he said. "Have them alert and sharp. Trained for the worst. But we're not striking. Not yet."  
His dark eyes travelled towards his children. "…not yet."

* * *

Kasumi and Itachi walked close besides each other, when they left the Naka Shrine later. Their father had looked at them at the end of the meeting, drawing all eyes to them.

"You know, what you have to do."

Kasumi let out a shaky breath and let the sinking feeling of dread wash over her for a second. Immediately a warmth emanated from Itachi to comfort her. Kasumi tilted her head slightly and smiled at him in silent thanks. At least, neither of them had to bear the burden alone.  
"Change and meet up in ten minutes?", Itachi asked, once they reached their home. Kasumi nodded and opened her mouth to reply, just as the sound of hastily pattering feet silenced her.  
"Nii-san! Nee-san!", Sasuke yelled excitedly as he rushed to greet them at the door. "Do you have time to train with me? You promised yesterday!" His dark eyes clung to his elder sister. Kasumi sighed deeply, her heart heavy as she looked at Sasuke. Itachi took a step forward and poked Sasuke tenderly on his forehead.  
"Sorry, Sasuke", he said with a sad smile and stepped to the side to let Kasumi place a soft kiss on the place he had poked.  
"Next time", she continued gently, as her twin and her walked past their younger brother towards their respective rooms. Although Kasumi stopped shortly in the kitchen to get some of the bentō boxes her mother prepared each morning and sealed them into special scrolls made by Kushina years ago. They had an appointment to uphold, as much as it pained them to leave Sasuke disheartened like that.

Kasumi shed the traditional yukata she usually wore during down time as soon as she had closed the door to her room. She folded it neatly and put it away. The clothes she would need to wear on missions now, sat on her bed, already waiting. She pulled on the standard kunoichi trousers, sandals and a simple grey shirt over tight under armour. Practical for combat. Not too flashy.  
As she pulled her long, black hair into a high ponytail, her dark gaze lifted as well and stopped on a picture frame on her nightstand. It showed Itachi and her with Sasuke in between them. They were younger, much younger than now, in the picture. Almost carefree and smiling brightly. Especially Sasuke. She clenched her jaw tightly and grabbed the hiati-ate from her bed to tie it around her head.  
It was Sasuke she was doing this for. So her younger brother had a chance at happiness.  
A second later, she stood on the roof, where Itachi already waited for her. They looked at each other and without so much as a silent understanding between them, they shunshinned away.

Their feet easily carried them to the ANBU building, where they vanished inside without anyone noticing them despite the broad daylight. The front desk was manned with an ANBU wearing a mouse mask.  
"Uchiha Itachi reporting", Itachi said and stepped forward.  
"Huh?", the ANBU said and scrutinised both of them from underneath his mask. "Here's your equipment." He pushed a box with a katana and a porcelain mask towards Itachi.  
"Thank you", Itachi said, took the things and stepped to the side.  
Kasumi took his place fluidly. "Uchiha Kasumi reporting."  
"Hai, hai", Mouse muttered and pushed another, similar set towards her.  
"Thank you", Kasumi said, bowed her head and took it.  
"You're assigned to Team Ro", the ANBU said. Kasumi and Itachi bowed again and left, while Mouse muttered something about insufferable politeness.

They reached the room marked as Team Ro locker room without problems. Dark eyes shared a look before they entered. They knew, what was coming.  
The academy hadn't been kind to prodigies and they had little hope, that it was any different within ANBU. At least, they had each other.  
Itachi opened the door and entered first, Kasumi following him. The room was filled with ANBU already in uniform and most even wearing masks. Kasumi felt anxiety take root in her gut, but the calm chakra spike from Itachi let her loosen her muscles again. Her lips twitched in a smile. They had each other. No one could harm them.  
"We've been assigned to Team Ro as of today", Itachi said to introduce themselves. "I'm Uchiha Itachi."  
"My name is Uchiha Kasumi", Kasumi chimed in, her voice firm like her brother's. "We'd appreciate your guidance." An ANBU not wearing a mask, but face guards came up to them, as the others simply stared. Kasumi's jaw clenched in quiet anger.  
"Ah, I see", the ANBU with the face guard said. "So that's you two." He scrutinised them with a smile. "You can use the two lockers farthest in the back."  
"Hai", Itachi said and both he and Kasumi walked towards their lockers.

"Those two are them?"  
"They say they're only eleven."  
"Doesn't that make them the youngest ANBU ever?"

The mumbles followed them and Kasumi had to reign in her temper. Itachi simply let his shoulder brush hers in order to calm his sister. She had inherited their father's temper, while Itachi came after their mother. They balanced each other out pretty decently.  
Kasumi took a deep breath, before she stripped out of her shirt, revealing the sleeveless under armour and the swirled ANBU tattoo on her left shoulder.  
"Team Ro is to assemble at Training Ground Three in five minutes", the face-guard-ANBU spoke up. Kasumi and Itachi simultaneously turned their heads. All other ANBU were staring at them. Someone muttered something about creepy twins. Kasumi's lips twitched.  
"Hai", Itachi said simply and returned towards changing into his uniform. Kasumi shot her new team mates a dark look, before she herself grabbed the grey flak jacket from within the box. Nothing but a short fluctuation of chakra signatures signalled them to the other ANBU leaving them alone.

"It's just like the academy all over again", Kasumi growled underneath her breath, while she fastened the flak jacket flush to her torso.  
Itachi sighed, but then turned his head to smile at his sister. "At least, we got each other."  
Kasumi's hard glare softened and her tense shoulders relaxed. "Hai", she smiled back. The standard katana was easily strapped to her back, although she knew, that she would miss her own katana dearly. Then she put shuriken, kunai and multiple scrolls into the ninja pouches attached to her flak jacket.  
Her slim hands hesitated for a second. Hovering over the last item.  
_For Sasuke._ She reminded herself, grabbed the porcelain mask and fastened it to hide her features. She turned and looked at her twin. Now, wearing the same uniform and similar masks, it was more than obvious, that they were twins. As either of them had yet to hit puberty, the only thing distinguishing them from each other was the fact, that Itachi still wore his shirt beneath his flak jacket, hiding his tattoo and that Kasumi wore her ponytail higher than Itachi.  
"Ready?", she asked him. Dark eyes locking with equally dark ones.  
"As I'll ever be."

The others waited for them. As they walked closer, right next to each other, their shoulders almost touching, a kunai suddenly embedded itself next to Kasumi's left foot. Her left eye twitched underneath her mask. But Itachi stoically walked on, so Kasumi took a deep breath to reign in her anger once more and followed his lead. Shuriken followed to fly around them. They walked on. They'd know, if one was dangerous.  
When one of the shuriken sunk into the tree trunk right in front of Itachi's face with a low thud, Kasumi stopped. Her teeth gnawed, but she was well-bred enough to not show her anger openly.  
"What are you doing?" A sharp voice asked from behind them. Kasumi slowly turned her head to see the ANBU with the dog mask standing there, his whole demeanour utterly unimpressed. Another ANBU wearing a cat mask stood next to him.  
"Explain yourselves!"

"We wanted to make sure, they had the skills to be one of us. Since they're so young", one of the ANBU answered finally. Kasumi wanted to scoff. Her eyes prickled with the need to reveal her Sharingan. To show them _exactly_, what her skills entailed. But the calm presence of Itachi next to her reminded her, that bloodshed was unnecessary. They knew, what they were capable of and that was enough.  
Her mind wandered towards their mother whispering sweet nothings with a watery voice to them, before she left Itachi and Kasumi alone with Sasuke. She remembered the blood on the clothes of her clansmen and the deeply etched sorrow within their eyes. So many, so, so many funerals. No. Itachi and her had sworn to reduce the bloodshed to the absolutely necessary. It was the reason they had become as efficient as they were now.  
The faster one could end a fight, the less blood was spilt.

"Do you have a problem with the decision of your superiors?", Inu asked, his voice still sharp, pulling Kasumi back to reality.  
"No, that's not it—"  
"Haven't you already sensed, that they're not ordinary?", Inu cut his team mate off. Kasumi wrinkled her nose. Words like those had singled her brother and her out from their peers in the academy.

Inu turned towards them. "I'm Kakashi", he introduced himself. "Captain of Team Ro." Kasumi tilted her head towards him and up, to get a good look. He was tall and as well-trained as all of them. Spiky, grey hair protruded from his head and all around his mask like a lion's mane. _Hn._ He had a powerful chakra signature to him.  
"I want you two to learn the ANBU rules and formations quickly", he continued.  
"Hai." Again it was Itachi, who answered for them both.

"To set the team at ease, though…Let's test your skill level", Kakashi said and pointed towards multiple kunai targets on the trees close by.  
Itachi looked at Kasumi, who tilted her head in a tiny nod. Her brother went first. Kunai ready, he jumped up with might, swirled around to distribute the kunai. With a quick flick of his wrists, he sent some more kunai flying, so they could hit the others into their correct trajectory. With a flip he landed in a quiet thud. The kunai deadly centre in the targets.  
"He's good", one of their new team mates uttered lowly. Kasumi rolled her eyes behind her mask. Of course he was good.  
She jumped from her place, shuriken in small hands. A gleam in the air and the shuriken went flying. Using the same trick as her brother, she changed the trajectory with a few other shuriken and landed next to him, while her weapons found their target spot on.  
None spoke after that. Kasumi's left eye twitched. _Idiots_.

"They are talented", Kakashi commented lowly. "But making exceptions for someone so young is rather unusual for ANBU." Kasumi straightened herself up next to her brother. They shared a short glance. They knew, why there had been an exception for them.  
"Danzō-sama recommended them", Neko offered as an explanation to his captain. Kasumi curled her lips at the thought of the old Council member. He had only recommended them to go into ANBU, to have two promising Uchiha within his grasp. Nothing more, nothing less. And their father had gone along with it to have his very own, loyal spies within the Black Ops.  
"No kidding?", Kakashi asked. "They don't fit the mold, though. What do you think?" He turned towards Neko.  
"Danzō-sama has his own, personal set of criteria for ANBU and Root agents", Neko answered easily, while Kasumi and Itachi just stood there. Kasumi's chakra smoldering right beneath her skin, while Itachi's was calm.  
"Ah", Kakashi nodded and looked at the newest recruits to his team.

"Kasumi."  
The girl looked up, the darkness beneath her mask glaring at Kakashi.  
"You're with Tenzō today", he nodded towards Neko. Kasumi nodded and shunshinned next to the ANBU.  
"Itachi", Kakashi continued. "You're with me."  
"Hai, taichō", Itachi said. Kasumi wanted to roll her eyes at her brother. They were both polite and well-mannered, but Itachi brought it to a whole new level.  
"The rest", Kakashi turned his head away from the young Uchihas, "training day."

* * *

Tenzō had pulled a mission scroll from his pouch as soon as he had led Kasumi away from the rest of Team Ro.  
"A simple guarding detail", he said and Kasumi could hear the smile in his voice. She nodded, as he handed her the scroll to read through their orders. Guard an important foreign merchant applying for asylum on his way to Konohagakure. Contact with enemy nin highly possible.  
"Am I right in assuming, that there's a Chūnin team assigned as well?", Kasumi asked lowly. Tenzō's head shot down to look at her.  
"You talk", he said bluntly.  
Kasumi furrowed her brows behind the mask. "Of course, I talk." She did prefer Itachi talking, though. He usually had a better way with words, than her polite, but blunt rudeness.  
When Tenzō still didn't answer, Kasumi repeated: "So…what about the Chūnin team, senpai?"  
That apparently snapped Tenzō out of whatever musing he was in. "H-hai", he said, a bit baffled by the honorific, but then he nodded. "Two Chūnin and a Jōnin. And you can call me Tenzō." Tenzō looked at the sky and then back at the girl. "You ready? We have to catch them before they're out of the village."  
Kasumi simply nodded and a moment later, they both vanished in a fast shunshin, leaving nothing behind but a small dust of dirt swirling around.

They had caught up to the Chūnin team in no time, running in an easy jog parallel to them, without them noticing. Though, truth be told, Kasumi nearly missed the next branch, when she saw who exactly was part of the Chūnin team. She would know those two everywhere. Her heart ached a bit, but the determination to make this mission a success only intensified.  
"You good?", Tenzō asked in that calm way, that reminded her a bit of Itachi.  
"Ah", Kasumi answered with a noncommittal shrug. "Izumo and Kotetsu were part of my Genin team", she added after a while, he should know, because that could become a possible liability to their mission. As if understanding her falter better, Tenzō nodded and looked back to the front to see where he was running.

A few hours later they arrived at a village, where a fat, boisterous merchant with layers upon layers of thick yukata and multiple rings on his fingers waited impatiently on them. Kasumi looked up into the sky to check for the time. They were probably two to three hours early. _Idiot. _Her left eye twitched.  
Tenzō and her observed the exchange quietly from around a corner, hidden from sight and clouded in Genjutsu. Kasumi leaned against the wall, arms crossed in front of her chest and one foot pushed up against the wall. Her head slightly downcast to listen easier. A small, fond smile pulled at her lips, when she heard Kotetsu's lazy drawl and Izumo's chiding. _Ah. Sometimes she missed those idiots. _

On the merchant's insistence, they set out that very afternoon. They would need to camp on the road, if the slow pace was anything to judge by. Kasumi sighed. She had wanted to be home for dinner…and train with Sasuke afterwards. She had to make up for that.  
"I've send word, that the mission will take longer", Tenzō said next to Kasumi.  
"Thank you", Kasumi replied, before she added, "do you have provisions with you, Tenzō-senpai?" Her gaze lingered on the slow trek of waggons and employees of the merchant below them. The two ANBU had jumped almost lazily from branch to branch for the last couple of hours. The merchant was a difficult client and Kasumi was relieved, that she didn't have to deal with him. That she could stay in the shadows.  
"Some food pills", Tenzō replied and Kasumi pulled a face underneath her mask. She hated those things with a passion. A slow nod was all Tenzō got as an answer and they fell yet again into comfortable silence. Kasumi appreciated, that her team mate wasn't someone prone to talking. And apparently also not as judgemental as the rest of Team Ro, with the exception of their buntaichō. She started to feel somewhat comfortable in his presence.

_Ah_. Kasumi wondered, how Itachi was doing. Her gaze lifted to the blue sky she could see through the leaves of the trees just above her. She was curious about their new team mates. Itachi would have much to tell her.

They stopped only a bit later. The place was a good one, hidden from sight and shielded from nature's most rough forces. Tenzō signalled for Kasumi, that they'd make a perimeter sweep and meet up at the other side of the camp. Kasumi nodded and only a second later, the red glow of the Sharingan illuminated the eye slits of her mask. She looked like a demon of old ages. Tenzō furrowed his brows slightly, as the girl shunshinned away. The Sharingan was indeed an eerie sight.  
The sight didn't greet him, when Tenzō arrived at the other side of the camp. Kasumi had found a comfortable place on a broad branch, one leg up, the other hanging from the branch and her back rested against the tree trunk. Tenzō blinked. _So lazy._ He smiled. It felt a bit familiar.  
"Let's eat something", Tenzō said and pushed his mask to the side. He pulled a pack of food pills from his pouch.  
"Oh, please wait a moment, Tenzō-senpai", Kasumi stopped him. Tenzō's face heated up, he wasn't used to be called senpai.  
She pushed her mask away, just like he had and produced a scroll from her pouch. Her left hand held the scroll and her right hand made half of a hand sign. The seal on the scroll released and a bentō box appeared in a puff of smoke. Tenzō's eyes widened comically, when Kasumi caught it in mid air and held it out to him.  
"My okā-san makes them for us and seals them in special scrolls from—" Her words faltered. "…scrolls she had gotten from Kushina-san", she ended a bit more subdued. Tenzō stared at her. _Kushina?  
_"Tenzō-senpai. It's not poisoned", she added calmly, when Tenzō had yet to move a muscle. At that, he held his hand out to take the bentō box from her, but didn't let his eyes trail off of the girl. Kasumi huffed in…was that amusement? She exchanged the now empty scroll with another one, just to unsealed it for a second bentō box to appear. Tenzō blinked utterly baffled.  
"Itadakimasu", she said and put her small hands together in a quiet clap. Then she just started eating.

"How many bentō boxes are you carrying around with you?!", Tenzō suddenly blurted out. The box in his own hand almost forgotten at the girl's antics. Kasumi stopped with the chopsticks half-way to her mouth. She let her other hand slip into the pouch at the back of her flak jacket. An entirely too cute look crossed her face, as she concentrated on counting the scrolls.  
"One more, senpai", she then answered and went back to eating. When she didn't hear anything from him, her dark eyes lifted and found his in the quickly disappearing daylight. They were surprisingly stern for an eleven-year-old and Tenzō remembered with a jolt through his muscles, that the girl was Uchiha Fugaku's daughter.  
"Please, eat, Tenzō-senpai. Food pills are gross and if one wants to fight properly, one has to eat properly."  
"H-hai", Tenzō replied and stared at the delicious looking bentō box in his hand. He wasn't sure, how exactly he would report _this_ back to Kakashi.

Their dinner was cut short, when their heads simultaneously perked up. Two pairs of dark eyes met. In an instant, the bentō boxes were put down and the masks readjusted to hide their faces.  
"What do you sense?", Tenzō asked.  
Kasumi closed her eyes to remove an unnecessary stimuli. "Five incoming. Three o'clock. Half a click away."  
A moment later, they felt the Jōnin stand from his position, the Chūnin stirred as well.  
"Tell them, that we'll handle this and then join me", Tenzō ordered. Kasumi nodded and a heart beat later, both had vanished.

Kasumi appeared in a crouch in front of the Jōnin. She immediately straightened up. Izumo and Kotetsu jerked back a bit, clearly startled by the sudden arrival of an ANBU.  
"Please don't worry, Jōnin-san, we will handle the hostiles", she said to the baffled Jōnin.  
Then she jumped up and within a few fast shunshins, she had reached the closest opponent. Her eyes registered the Kiri hitai-ate and analysed him in seconds even without the Sharingan. In a fluid motion, Kasumi pulled the katana from her back, while she easily dodged an attack.  
Steel gleamed in the dieing light of the day. A splatter of blood. The thud of a body falling lifelessly to the ground and Kasumi was off to her next target.

It took her and Tenzō less than two minutes to kill all the hostiles silently and without the use of any flashy jutsu. They came to stand next to the last nin fallen. Kasumi cleaned her katana at the clothes of the Kiri-nin, before she sheathed it again.  
"So you prefer kenjutsu?", Tenzō asked with a tilt of his head.  
"Hai, senpai", Kasumi answered simply, while she leaned down and sealed the body into an empty scroll. It was protocol to gather the bodies for T&I. Tenzō smiled as he saw how meticulous she was. He jumped away to seal the other bodies. A quick examination of one of her victims revealed, that she had killed with one clean cut. Effective and fast. Kakashi would be pleased with the report Tenzō could give.

They both appeared in front of the Jōnin after they gathered all bodies. The snores of the merchant still coming loud and irregular from his tent.  
"The threat has been taken care of, Jōnin-san", Kasumi said so politely, that Tenzō had to blink in wonder yet again. "We will continue to be your security detail. So please, sleep tight." Tenzō had to stifle his chuckle. _So polite.  
_Izumo and Kotetsu gawked openly at Kasumi now, but a sharp look from behind a porcelain mask kept them silent. They knew that look too well.  
"Thank you, Ōkami-san", the Jōnin said, addressing Kasumi by way of her mask. Amusement was clear in his voice. Tenzō nodded at the Jōnin and then signalled Kasumi to retreat again.

Kasumi took the same position as before the little skirmish and continued to eat her bentō. Tenzō furrowed his brows at that, but returned his attention to his own bentō box only moments later.  
It _was_ a really delicious bentō, after all.

* * *

Tenzō had sent Kasumi home right after they had arrived in Konohagakure during early afternoon hours the next day. She was to rest up and meet Team Ro the following day at the crack of dawn for a team building training session. Kasumi had excused herself from his presence with a tiny bow and a polite goodbye, telling him in the same breath, that he too should get some much needed sleep.

After reporting back to Danzō, Tenzō went to meet up with Kakashi. He already saw the grey haired head of his friend from afar on a roof opposite to the entrance gate of the Uchiha compound. Tenzō came to a stop next to Kakashi, also looking towards the gate, where none other than Kasumi, clad in tight-fitting combat trousers and a yukata with the Uchiha crest on the back, exited with her little brother trailing after her.  
"Eh? I told her to rest", Tenzō said a bit displeased, that she didn't listen to him.  
"You did?", Kakashi asked and Tenzō nodded. "We've alternated night shift every two hours", he explained, which basically meant neither of them had gotten a lot of sleep the last night.  
"I see", Kakashi murmured, his one visible eye following Kasumi and Sasuke walking down the street. "What do you think of her, Tenzō?"  
"She's quiet, not a big talker, but ridiculously skilled for her age", Tenzō began his report, just as the subject of their conversation turned a corner and left their sight. "She's not one for taijutsu, but excels in kenjutsu. Every enemy she engaged with was struck down with one clean cut across the throat. No hesitation."  
"Ah", Kakashi nodded and let his eyes travel back to the compound. "Just as expected. Her brother is the same. A bit demure maybe, but definitely a prodigy."  
"I see. It's very obvious, that Kasumi's Fugaku-sama's daughter, though", Tenzō ventured into the aspects in his report concerning her character.  
Kakashi quirked a brow and looked at his friend. "How so?"  
"Polite to a point it's intimidating", Tenzō clarified with a light scowl turning the corners of his mouth down. "And wary of anything and anyone around her. I don't think she relaxed once from her proper mannerism. Maybe a defence mechanism to keep others out?"  
"That's possible", Kakashi mused. "The Uchiha have been separated and doubted ever since—" He stopped himself and turned to look at Tenzō. "The team building sessions will be essential. We can't have team mates unable to feel at least professional comfort with the rest of the team. It might make the difference between failing or succeeding in a mission."  
"Hai, Kakashi-senpai", Tenzō answered and a faint blush dusted his cheeks as he used the honorific.  
Kakashi titled his head in question. "What is it?"  
"I-it's nothing, really, j-just…" Tenzō trailed off and stared stoically towards the Uchiha compound. "She called me s-senpai, too."  
Kakashi chuckled lowly at the obvious embarrassment of his friend. Then he lifted one hand from the pockets of his trousers and waved a lazy wave, as he turned.  
"I'll see you tomorrow, Tenzō", he said, amusement still evident in his voice. "_Ja ne_." With that he vanished in a poof of smoke.

* * *

Kasumi sat on the ground of the Academy's training ground number five, her back rested against a tree and the warm orange light of the setting sun softly caressing her skin. She held a scroll about the Uchiha's katon techniques in her hands, though she hadn't studied in a few minutes. Her dark eyes were trained on her little brother, who relentlessly tossed shuriken and kunai at the targets. A gentle smile tugged at her lips.  
"Don't throw with your whole arm, Sasuke-chan", she corrected softly. "Throw with your wrist."  
Sasuke looked at her, his eyes bright with joy and determination. "Hai, nee-san!" And he went at it again.  
Kasumi was tired, very tired actually, and her back ached from sleeping on a tree the last night, but nothing could have stopped her from training with Sasuke. His joy and happiness, the urge to show her how much he had improved…it was worth the pain and the argument she had had with her father. In the end they had compromised on Kasumi overseeing Sasuke's kenjutsu training, while she studied the new jutsu Fugaku wanted to teach her.

The young Uchiha heiress let her head fall against the tree bark and closed her eyes. Itachi hadn't been in the compound, when she had returned. Probably off, training with Shisui. She was curious, what he had to say about their new taichō. _Ah_. Maybe they could talk later.  
The sun was warm on her skin. Her breathing slowed into a deep, regular rhythm. The constant thud of kunai meeting wood echoed through her mind.

"Sumi-nee! Don't sleep!"

Kasumi blinked her eyes open. Sasuke stood right in front of her, looking down with an expression somewhere between an impressive Uchiha-frown and a cute pout.  
"Ah", Kasumi said lazily. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-chan." Her eyes travelled to the darkening sky. _Had she really fallen asleep?_ With a tiny groan, she got up and put the scroll away into the pouch she had strapped to her obi.  
"Come, let's get home", she offered her hand with a soft smile. "Okā-san's probably already waiting with dinner."  
Sasuke took her hand with a wide grin. His small hand warm in hers. "Hai, nee-san!"

And so they walked through the bustling streets of Konohagakure. Sasuke grinning widely, inspirited from having his sister watch over his training and blissfully unaware of the wary glances.  
Kasumi, however, noticed them. The murmur, that followed them. The way some of the merchants put on an extra dark expression, so they wouldn't stop to buy something from them. Eyes following their every movement with contempt and a deeply ingrained wariness. Kasumi's left eye twitched and her gait became a bit more fluid, as her muscles instinctively prepared for an attack. Her shoulders squared in a display of power and she held her chin high.  
Every hateful stare was met with the stoic, slightly arrogant look Kasumi had copied from her father. They were Uchiha and that was something to be proud of.

It were moments like this, that made Kasumi understand, why the Elders of her clan were out for blood.  
Not that she approved of it. Bloodshed only led to more bloodshed. But as she felt the humiliation and hatred wash over her with a bitter taste on her tongue, she understood.

* * *

_Gosh, writing Tenzō/Yamato is so difficult!_  
_And don't get me started on Kakashi, who - as I see it - has not yet settled into the personality we know from when he is 26/27 at the beginning of Naruto. He's about 20 in this one and has still a lot of growing to do. But Tenzō's there, so I guessed he's no longer a complete prick..._

_What do you think about Kasumi?_  
_I tried to make the dynamic she has with Itachi as organic as possible. Since I don't have a twin, I can only hope their special bond comes across?_  
_I also hope, that it's obvious, that she's no Itachi 2.0 but rather her own person with her own characteristics and quirks._

_Now, I'm just going to sit in front of my laptop and await judgement by you guys._

_Read ya soon,_  
_Murphy_


	2. Rise

It was the next day, when Kakashi came in a bit late for the training session with his team. He knew, that they all were capable to start on their own and keep themselves occupied. What interested him and made him hide his presence for a bit longer, was how exactly his two new recruits would entertain themselves.

Most of Team Ro had broken up into pairs of two, lightly sparring or quizzing each other on ANBU sign language. Tenzō was happily building whole mansions off to the side with his mokuton. Everything as it usually were. Kakashi's eyes behind his mask travelled towards an area of the training field, where he could sense the two chakra signatures, that interested him most. He furrowed his brows. Their signatures were almost identical and in the nick of time, it would probably be difficult to distinguish them properly.  
Kakashi jumped a bit closer to them, carefully masking his chakra.  
The twins stood opposite to each other with a fair bit of space between them. Both the standard katana in their hand and the other raised to form hand seals.  
"Wouldn't you think, learning suiton next would help us get rid of a weakness considering our affinity?", Itachi mused, while he almost lazily formed the signs with one hand. He inhaled and spit a small ball of fire towards his sister.  
Kakashi narrowed his eyes, when he saw the blade of Kasumi's katana suddenly coated with the soft humming of chakra. She fluidly formed an arch with the blade and cut right through the fireball jutsu. Slight tension rolled from her shoulders a second later and the chakra vanished from the blade.  
"Ah", she said and titled her head from one side to the other, as she started to form hand seals with one hand. "But fūton would make our katon stronger." She spit the same fire ball Itachi just had.  
Kakashi's eyes instantly shot to the katana in Itachi's hands._ Ah, just as he thought._ It lit up with chakra and cut through the attack with a single motion.  
"True. It would put a faster end to a fight", Itachi answered, as he now spit a fire ball again.

Kakashi lingered for a while in the tree, watching as the twins quickened their hand seals and strengthened their attacks more and more, while still trying to cut through the attack with nothing but chakra coated steel. All the while discussing chakra manipulation theory about how to master another nature. It was…humbling in a way. And disheartening.  
There was a certain nonchalant air around them, as they tossed C-rank jutsu at each other without regard of any injuries. It told Kakashi, that they were used to such exercises and he was a tad bit concerned what real training actually meant to them. He knew the Uchiha to be strict and disciplined in every regard. _Well__…mostly. _His heart clenched painfully at the thought, as he struggled with acidic memories of goggles and wide smiles.  
To make training deliberately dangerous in order to become strong…He began to understand, why Danzō had recommended them. This exercise demanded a certain amount of chakra control and a sharp mind. However, from their relaxed body language Kakashi derived, that this was warm up.

_Well__…time to get them breaking a sweat._

Kakashi shunshined to the centre of the training field.  
Immediately all sparring ended and the entire Team Ro shunshined to stand in front of their taichō. Kakashi contemplated his options for a moment. He was curious about seeing, how the twins operated together when faced with a real challenge. But he needed to break them up in order to make them more comfortable with the team. He felt a sigh built in his chest. For that to happen, he needed the apprehension from the older ANBU to stop.  
"Listen up", he said, as he had made his decision. "I planted a flag somewhere on the training field with a small chakra marker. Part of you will defend the flag, the other part will try to steal it. All goes, but no lethal jutsu or strikes. Understood?"  
"Hai" A chorus of voices answered him.  
"Itachi. Kasumi", Kakashi called out. Two small figures appeared in front of him. "You're with me. We'll be defending the flag."  
"Hai", Itachi answered for them both.  
"Tenzō", Kakashi looked up to his friend. "One minute."  
"Hai, senpai", Tenzō answered. Kakashi looked at the rest of the team, then down to Itachi and Kasumi.  
"Go", he said and followed the twins, as they shunshined to a safe distance.

As soon as they landed, the siblings shared nothing but a short glance, before Kasumi turned to Kakashi.  
"Is assuming, that you observe us more than you will aid us in this, correct, Kakashi-taichō?", she questioned in a low tone.  
"Hai", Kakashi answered, a lazy smile dancing around his lips.  
"Then follow, please", she said and as soon as she had stopped speaking, Itachi had jumped into the direction of the flag, Kasumi only half a step behind him._ Ah._ So Kasumi only took the task of speaking, because Itachi was the better sensor. Kakashi couldn't help but to feel like this was going to be interesting.  
Tanzō had been right, though, she _was_ painfully polite.

They arrived at the flag in mere seconds. And again, it took not more than one glance between the siblings for them to dart into opposite directions. Kakashi closed his eyes and let his senses roam free, as he felt them plant traps and ninja wire and chakra strings all around.  
Kakashi furrowed his brows. They were all a bit off, though. A wire forgotten here and a missing seal on a trap there. He knew, that they were too good to make such mistakes, so it had to be intentional and that was actually, what caught his interest. Faulty traps, after all, did not give away any chakra signatures.

They returned to his side in eerie synchrony.  
"You or I?", Itachi asked, looking at his sister. She tilted his head from one side to the other, staring intently at her brother.  
"You", Kasumi then said and gracefully sat down on one side of the flag's post, her back against it and her legs comfortably crossed.  
Itachi sighed and stood at the other side of the flag, his back to his sister and his arms crossed over his chest. Somehow Kakashi felt, as if he had missed a whole conversation there.  
When Kasumi pulled a scroll from one of her pouches and began to read it, Kakashi nearly lost his composure.

"I'll tell Shisui, that you skipped out again", Itachi suddenly said in a flat tone. Kasumi just huffed at that, but didn't respond. From the soft chuckle, that came from Itachi by that reaction, Kakashi again felt as if there had been words spoken he hadn't heard. _Was it a twin thing?  
_Kakashi felt the others approaching and only a heart beat later, Itachi's eyes glowed crimson beneath his mask. He jumped away in order to intercept some of them. Kasumi, still studying the scroll, pulled out a few shuriken from her pouch and let them rotate in her right hand. Her eyes were still dark and focused on the scroll.  
Just as Kakashi felt a chakra come at the flag, Kasumi threw two shuriken with a flick of her wrist. One deflected a kunai aimed at her, the other seemed to…do nothing. _No, that couldn__'t be right. _He heard a small gasp of pain and turned to see Kō trapped in wires. Kakashi activated his own sharingan. _Ah.  
_Now he saw, that Kasumi had chakra strings attached to her shuriken. And that one of the shuriken she had thrown had actually provided the last string to trap Kō in between the chakra string and all the other wires. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly.

So that was, why the traps had been off. His eyes darted to the kunai she had deflected with the second shuriken. It had activate one of the traps, further keeping Kō confined to his position. Keeping the traps and wires open like that, it kept them flexible and enabled either Kasumi or Itachi to activate them in any way or form needed from any angle the enemy might come.  
That level of genius…was actually to be expected.

In the next blink of an eye, Kasumi had jumped up, the scroll now switched with her katana. Her stance was almost relaxed, as she held the tip of it to the throat of another of her new team mates.  
Straight, purple hair tumbled from behind the porcelain mask.  
"Oh", the elder ANBU said. "Well, if that's so." She jumped away and pulled her own katana.  
Kakashi jumped out of the way, careful not to set off any wires or traps, as the two female ANBU engaged in a sword fight. The advantage in hight, range and strength definitely was with Yūgao, but Kasumi held her own easily even without her sharingan activated. She had a style, that reminded Kakashi of dancing in it's fluid, but effective strikes.

Kō had managed to free himself of the wire and was about to make a run for the flag, when Itachi appeared in front of him.  
"Sorry about this", he said calmly and only a second later, Kō slumped. Itachi caught his body and placed him gently on the ground.  
Suddenly Yōji and Tenzō broke through the trees, joining the little fight. Kasumi still locked in a stance with her katana blocking Yūgao's, turned her head away from her opponent. Itachi's sharingan met Kasumi's still dark eyes. A tiny smile curled around her lips, unseen beneath the mask, as she spun their dark colour into red pandemonium.  
The next moment, all hell broke loose.

Kakashi was certain, that he could only observe the following, because he himself had the sharingan.

Itachi and Kasumi increased their speed suddenly. Their strikes coming faster and harder. Their shuriken and kunai even more precise than before.  
Wires and traps were spun and activated with the simple flick of a wrist. Their chakra signatures became so identical, that even Kakashi with his sharingan had problems to follow where they went, as they jumped and shunshined and danced around like flames in a fire becoming a firestorm. They were vicious and ridiculously effective.  
It took them together less than two minutes to incapacitate their team mates.

All movement stilled.  
Yūgao was knocked out cold on the ground. Probably another genjutsu, although Kakashi wasn't able to say who had cast it. He hadn't seen it happening.  
Itachi held a kunai to Yōji's throat, a cut on the boy's cheek bleeding slightly.  
Kasumi stood in front of Tenzō her back turned towards him, but by the rigid look in Tenzō face, she had the tip of her katana pointed at the tiny, unprotected sliver within the ANBU flak jacket, that ensured movement.  
Kō was still slumped and unresponsive.

Kakashi felt his muscles tense at the scene in front of him.  
For the first time, he truly understood the fear the Uchiha name elicited in even the most skilled ninja.  
He forced his instincts to relax.

Then Kakashi felt a disruption and _moved_.  
He landed right next to the flag, just as Tenzō emerged from the ground. The Tenzō Kasumi held at bay turned into a wooden branch. Her eyes widened slightly.  
Tenzō was about to grab the flag, when Kakashi casually held a kunai to his throat.  
"Now, now", he said with a lazy drawl. "I'm still also part of this team, ne?"  
Tenzō slumped, but let his hand fall to his side, accepting defeat.

"Well", Kakashi said, as he lazily put the kunai back into his pouch. "Now that _that__'s_ out of the system." He clapped his hands together to dispel the tension. The Uchiha twins immediately jumped away from their respective victims or in Kasumi's case away from the branch. Both made the hand seal to release their genjutsu and their eyes dimmed to their natural colour.  
Kō groaned, as he sat up, a hand on his head. Yōji helped Yūgao up, although his face were directed at the two new recruits.

"You should have been able to trust in the strength of your new team mates", Kakashi started chiding his team, as they slowly gathered in front of him. His eyes darted from Yūgao to Yōji to Kō. "And not come to me with concerns. Itachi and Kasumi became ANBU due to their strength and abilities. They are part of Team Ro. Treat them as such." Tenzō smiled slightly, as his older team mates looked down a bit ashamed at their taichō's words.  
"And maybe next time we play this game, you won't underestimate them. You were going in too self-assured and that's why you were so easily overpowered. I'm certain next time will be more difficult." His eyes flickered towards Kasumi and Itachi at his last sentence.  
"Itachi. Kasumi", Kakashi addressed them directly. "You work flawlessly as a team together, just as expected. But this will mark the last time in a while, that you will work together." Nothing betrayed their emotions about that bit of information. There was only a slight tension in Itachi's shoulder and a minuscule twitch in Kasumi's hand.  
"You need to become comfortable with the rest of Team Ro", Kakashi explained nonetheless. "Teamwork can make the difference between failing or succeeding in a mission. Between life or death. You can't work as a team, if you're wary of the others." He took a deep breath, so he could get the next words over his lips. "No one here cares about your clan. No one here cares about whether or not the Uchiha were part of the Kyūbi Attack." Kasumi stiffened at that. _Finally, a reaction.  
_"We know _you_ weren't. This is your team. All we care about is how we treat each other. No name matters. No clan matters. This is ANBU and we have to trust each other blindly. Or we die." Kakashi let his eyes travel over every single member of his team.  
"Is that understood?"  
"Hai!" They chorused in unison and with conviction. Kakashi nodded satisfied.

With a fluid motion, Kakashi pushed his porcelain mask to the side to reveal his masked face. His bi-coloured eyes shaped in an unseen smile.  
"Good", he said. "Then let's have lunch together."  
With that he sat down on the ground where he had stood and pulled a package with rice balls from his pouch.

Not one to ever decline food, Kasumi was sitting next to Kakashi in an instant. Her mask pulled to the side, revealing the tiny smile she wore, as she rummaged through her pouch and pulled two scrolls from it. She held one scroll out and Itachi took it, as he sat down next to her.  
They shared a cute smile, which made Yūgao almost coo at them, as she sat down on Kakashi's other side. The others joined them in a somewhat round circle, with the masks pushed to the side to reveal their faces and all some sort of small lunch with them.  
Kakashi could feel Kasumi take a deep breath next to him and he tilted his head to look at her. Curious about why she prepared herself mentally.  
"Ne~ Tenzō-senpai?", she said in a voice, that sounded strangely vulnerable as it lacked all fabricated politeness. Tenzō looked up from his lunch, his slightly widened pupils indicating his surprise. "I think you've bruised one of my ribs."  
"I…uh…sorry", Tenzō stuttered out. For a lingering moment everything seemed to still.

Then Kō burst out with laughter, followed by Yōji's low chuckle and Kakashi could even hear Itachi laugh a little under his breath.  
Kakashi couldn't help but to feel a tiny bit satisfied with that. Itachi and Kasumi were going to fit in with Team Ro quite right.

* * *

Kakashi had dismissed them two hours after lunch. And while Itachi had been ordered to bring their father lunch into the police station, Kasumi was free to roam the streets. Yet again, she wore tight, tactical pants and a short yukata with the Uchiha crest on it's back. Her hair was down and her long pony fell easily over her hitai-ate. She wasn't yet certain, what she wanted to do.  
Usually she trained or studied or trained some more. But her mother had ordered her to get some down time and then pick up Sasuke from the Academy. Which was why she now aimlessly walked through the streets of Konohagakure. Her eyes travelled over the display of her favourite book store. Stopping for a moment, she took a book to read the summary on the back. A romance novel set in the feudal era. Not really her cup of tea.  
She put it back and walked on.

"Hey! Kasu-chan!"

Kasumi stopped and tilted her head. Her dark eyes travelled towards a dango shop, where Kotetsu waved enthusiastically at her. Izumo sat next to him, smiling softly as he nibbled on a dango.  
Without hesitating, Kasumi changed the course of her steps and headed towards her friends.  
"Izu-kun, Ko-kun", she greeted and sat down next to them. A gentle smile, reserved for only few, turned the corners of her mouth up a bit.  
"So you're a big fish now, eh?", Izumo asked after he had finished chewing.  
Kasumi shrugged.  
"Of course, she is!", Kotetsu yelled and threw an arm around Kasumi's shoulders. "She's Kasu-chan!" It got more attention form the shop keeper and other patrons, than Kasumi had wanted. Relaxed, smiling faces turned into grim looks and wary, tightly pressed together lips at the sight of her and the crest she displayed proudly. Kasumi felt the muscles in her back stiffen and she lifted her chin in defiance. The faint smile dropped from her lips and was replaced by a stoic, closed-off expression.  
"Eh, you look like your father again", Izumo commented, but didn't say anything more. He and Kotetsu had noticed how the Uchiha were treated within the village. Kasumi just shrugged and stood to go get herself a cup of green tea and some dango for Itachi.

"Hello, I'd like some—", she began, but was cut off by the shop keeper.  
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we're out of dango", he said, a provoking look in his eyes. Kasumi's eyes slowly travelled to the display filled with dango in every flavour imaginable.  
"I see", she said in a flat tone. "Thanks for your hospitality. Have a good day." She tilted her head in a slight, almost mocking, bow and turned around.  
"OI!", Kotetsu sprang from his place, half-eaten dango stick still in his hand.  
"That's ridiculous, Hamachi-san", Izumo chimed in, his face contorted in anger.  
Kasumi just walked past them, her head held high and her gait confident. "Izu-kun. Ko-kun. Thanks, but that's not necessary", she said, as she passed them.  
"Not nece—", Kotetsu repeated, caught in between anger and surprise at Kasumi's reaction. He ran after her, while Izumo hastily threw some money on the table to pay, before he followed his friends out of the shop.  
"It's not the first time and it won't be the last", Kasumi said stoically. The pang in her heart was hard to ignore.  
"Doesn't make it right", Izumo said lowly. Kasumi swallowed.  
"No", she whispered, so only her friends could hear her. "No, it doesn't."  
"Well", Kotetsu said with an air of importance around him. "You got us, right? Who needs dango, anyway!" He again threw an arm around Kasumi, their difference in hight making it rather easy for him to lean a bit on her. This time, Izumo joined and crushed Kasumi's other side to him, effectively trapping her between her two former team mates.  
It didn't make the animosity of the village any better, but Kasumi could feel a tiny smile play around her lips, as her heart grew a bit lighter. This was, what she wanted to protect. No matter how she was treated.

They got dango and green tea at another shop. The shop keeper not much happier about Kasumi than the other, but at least, he wasn't about to turn down business. They had sat down on a bench outside the Academy gates and just caught up with each other. Kasumi felt at ease, the small smile coming easier with every passing minute she spent with her friends.  
But soon enough, they had to leave for their guard duty and that left Kasumi alone with still two hours until the Academy would finish. _Ma~  
_She let her head fall into her neck and looked at the blue sky above her. Not quite sure, what to do with the time she had, but not brave enough to actively go against her mother's instructions and train some jutsu, she compromised on reading. So she pulled a scroll from the pouch she had strapped to her right leg and began studying the basics of Fūton.

Kakashi shook his head from his high perch on the roof opposite to where Kasumi sat.  
He had just been out for a stroll to the book shop, when he had sensed the chakra of his youngest rookie and he had been curious. It was a bit unsettling to see her so comfortable with Izumo and Kotetsu, but Kakashi figured, that they had been on a Genin team together, despite the age difference. What rubbed him in just the wrong way was, that she had perfected a mask at such a young age. He had seen the same mask on Itachi's, but not as…firm. Itachi was a bit softer, a bit more forgiving. Kakashi was certain, that Kasumi would remember _exactly_ who had treated her how.  
It reminded him a bit too much of Fugaku. And that was not a man to be trifled with.

She had free time, time to meet with friends or read or paint, do whatever she wanted…and she studied.  
For a second, he felt like a hypocrite. When Kakashi had been her age, he had been just like that. Nothing but training and honing his skills had mattered. He was all too aware why that had been the case…  
So it made him curious, why exactly Itachi and Kasumi were like they were. Why were they so much like him? What motivated them? It couldn't just be a prodigy thing, could it?  
_Ah._ He pulled a little orange book from his hip pouch and started reading, his senses partially locked on the girl a few meters away. _He would just have to find out, wouldn__'t he?_

* * *

The only thing to be heard was the clanking of chopsticks against porcelain. Dinners at the Uchiha household were, after all, a quiet affair since the Kyūbi Attack.  
Their mother sometimes would attempt to make a bit of small talk, but not on a bad day. Kasumi had found her kneeling over a tumbled over stack of boxes, when she had come back home with a beaming Sasuke clinging to her hand. Pictures strewn on the round all around their mother, that held bright smiles and fiery red hair. Kasumi had told Sasuke to start setting the table, before she had knelt down next to her mother and gathered the pictures with gentle fingers. Her mother had given her a watery smile in thanks and had excused herself to the bathroom.  
It was always a bad day, when Uchiha Mikoto remembered her best friend and the tragic fate, that had befallen her.

"How are you progressing?", their father asked and without him addressing anyone properly, Itachi and Kasumi knew, that they were meant. They shared a short look.  
"We defeated our new team in a game of protect-the-flag today, otō-san", Kasumi answered, her dark eyes turning from her brother to their father. As much as Itachi handled talking to everyone else, Kasumi always was the one to talk to their father. They were similar in so many ways and Fugaku took so much pride in that, that he was a bit less harsh to his daughter, than to his sons.  
"How long did it take you?", he wanted to know and Kasumi licked her lips in worry, before she answered.  
"About five minutes from the signal to start", she replied. Her father finally looked up, his dark eyes boring into hers. Then he nodded and Kasumi knew, that she saw a hint of pride in the curl of his lips.  
Itachi shared another look with Kasumi. "Otō-san?", he then addressed quietly. Their father's hard eyes turned towards his eldest.  
"Would you allow Kasumi and me to train with Shisui-san after dinner?", Itachi asked. Fugaku's left eye twitched a bit. As much as Shisui was considered someone to bring pride to the Uchiha clan, their father did decidedly not approve of the elder boy's un-Uchiha-like character.  
"It would help to increase our speed", Kasumi chimed in.  
"That it would", Fugaku mused, his dark eyes landing again on his daughter. "You may go."  
"Thank you, otō-san", Itachi and Kasumi chorused.  
Sasuke immediately perked up. "Me, too", he said. "Please, let me train with Ita-nee and Sumi-nee!"  
Their father looked at his youngest and for a second, Kasumi saw the wrinkles around his eye smoothing out a bit. "No", he then said and went back to eating.  
"You could get hurt, Sasuke-chan", Kasumi followed up to soften the blow for her younger brother. Their father meant well, even if he didn't show it.  
"You can help me with the dishes, Sasuke-chan", their mother said with a tiny, shaky smile at the enthusiasm of her children. Her smile became a bit more steady, when Sasuke puffed out his cheeks in a pout.

The rest of the meal was held in silence again and Kasumi was kind of glad, to have Shisui's vibrant personality to look forward to. Just when Itachi and her were about to excuse themselves, their father looked up from the bowls he placed in the sink.  
"We are invited to have tea with Hyūga-san tomorrow afternoon", Fugaku said, his dark eyes fixed on his two eldest. "I expect both of you to attend."  
"Hai, otō-san", Kasumi said with a light bow of her head and then she ushered Itachi outside of the kitchen.

Her brother gave a tiny sigh, as they made their way through the compound towards the private Uchiha training grounds. They walked so close to each other, that their shoulder brushed every once in a while. Their chakras mingled naturally. It was comforting in such a primal, basic way, that Kasumi couldn't imagine a time not able to do that.  
She knew, that being in ANBU had drastically upped the chances of being killed in action. They both knew that. They both also knew, that they were freakishly good at what they did. So as arrogant as it may sound, Kasumi did not expect to ever not be able to have her twin, _her other half_, with her at any given moment. It was just not a thought, that ever occurred to her.

"You know tomorrow is going to be…formal", Itachi said lowly. _They__'re honing us again.  
_Kasumi sighed. "Yes", she answered and brushed her shoulder against his. "And we suffer through it as always." _We are the heirs, there__'s no way around it.  
_Itachi gave her a look. _I__'m the older one. There's no 'we'.  
_"Don't pout, Ita-kun", Kasumi smiled a bit slyly. _I know, I__'m off the hook!_ "I'll always be with you."  
Itachi breathed out a sigh again._ I know._ His chakra embraced hers in an intimate hug.

"Stop being weird you two."

The smile in Shisui's voice was as obvious as the slight teasing. He had always found the connection Itachi and Kasumi shared amusing. A bit odd, but amusing.  
He sat in the middle of the training ground, wide smile on his lips and his legs crossed comfortably.  
"You two spar", he then said and shunshinned next to them. "No sharingan. I'll analyse."

* * *

TRIVIA:

Kasumi's ease with kenjutsu comes from training with Shisui and his Body Flicker Technique.

She doesn't need her sharingan activated anymore for most of the time she fights with a katana, because Shisui and her trained to get better without using it.

The sharingan is, after all, not only a powerful weapon, but also dangerous if used too much. Shisui knew that and trained Itachi and Kasumi in fighting without the added advantage.

This training later enabled Itachi to fight Sasuke almost completely blind.

* * *

_Heya,_

_I'm not actually happy with this chapter. Fight scenes are the bane of my writing existence! And the whole chapter feels a bit...off. But honestly, I have no idea what it is...the next chapters are better, I promise!_  
_It doesn't help, though, that Itachi is freaking OP as fuck and I have to try really hard to make Kasumi equal to him without her being a damn Mary Sue. I sincerely hope, that I achieve that ambitious goal?_

_Also a lot of Kakashi in this, because I felt like it. He's not yet 'soft' and all dork-y, but team work has a big place in his character already. At least I guess, he'd be at that stage of character development. He is 20 and I think I can give him some common sense at that age..._

_Lately, I also got inspired to write those little trivia tidbits. Hope you like them?_

_Last, but certainly not least:_  
_THANK YOU so much for how you took to Chasing Red Camellias. I'm a bit blown away by it actually.  
THANKS to everyone, who put this story on favourite!  
THANKS to all of you following!  
THANKS to Ayrianra, Stellarwitch and rsaenz18 for reviewing, I **appreciate** that!  
You guys rock!_

_Read ya soon,_  
_Murphy_

_PS.: I'm really, really sorry for that god-awful Protect-the-flag business in this chapter. It's...not my strong suit. Really not. I'm...working on it. Promise._

_ Ayrianra: Thank you for your review! And thanks so much for the compliment on my writing. I aim to please. :) I also can understand the scepticism towards the Itachi-twin scenario. The thought sparking this little story was a curiosity about the Uchiha clan in general. I wanted to explore an Uchiha-character within the Naruto story line. The only thing that seemed at least somewhat logical, was another sibling. There wouldn't have been any real, logical motivation for Itachi to leave another Uchiha character alive. Unless, that character was as dear to him as Sasuke. And since I didn't want a problem with age, when Kakashi comes along eventually as a love interest...Kasumi became Itachi's twin.  
_

_ Stellarwitch: Oh, thank you so much! I was really worried about the twin bond...And I'm absolutely happy to hear, that you like Kasumi. Her character's still developing. She's eleven in the first chapter. so there's yet a lot of growth going to happen. I hope you've enjoyed chapter no. 2 as well?_

_ rsaenz18: Thank you for the review! It makes me so happy to hear, that you're interested in how the story unfolds. Honestly, so am I. I do have a plot line worked out, but what happens at the side lines? Who knows? I'm happy you're along for the ride._


	3. Soldier

The next morning found Kasumi and Itachi at the ANBU commission desk. Kakashi had sent them there the moment they had stepped into the locker room to change. As composed as Kasumi was on the outside, she was a tiny bit giddy on the inside. Not that she would ever acknowledge it. She was an Uchiha. But it made her a bit happy to know, that their trial phase was already over and they would get their place on the regular mission roaster of Team Ro.  
Maybe it was a craving for approval. Maybe it was just the knowledge, that she definitely wouldn't end up as a demure housewife now.

There had been a point in her life — about five years ago — when she had stormed into her father's study, eyes blazing with a roaring fire and tiny hands clenched into fists. Itachi had told her, that he had been enrolled into the Academy just moments before. So she had stood in front of her father and had _demanded_ to know, why she wasn't also enrolled, when even her mother was a jōnin, though retired. He had looked at her sternly, if a bit surprised — as if he was seeing her for the first time truly — and had started to explain, that there never had been a woman born into the main family to become a kunoichi; that it was considered too dangerous for the clan line.  
Young Kasumi had fumed and had told him in no uncertain terms, that she would request a medic to make her barren, if he wouldn't allow her to take the path of a ninja. In hindsight, she had been a bit dramatic about it all, but her father had just looked at her for a long time and then he had nodded.  
The next day, Kasumi had been enrolled and started the Academy a month later together with her twin. It was a week in, when Fugaku knew he had made the right choice as he had to listen to a teacher complaining, that Kasumi had positively _flattened_ a boy of her class after mocking her for being a girl. Needless to say, the teacher wasn't as pleased as Fugaku.

The Elders had thrown a fit about it all, but Young Kasumi had sworn to herself to be the best ninja she could possibly be. Just so she could rub it into their faces every waking minute of her life.  
To this day, her gender was at times a tricky topic. One, that even Itachi tried to stay clear off.

Just as Tenzō had already warned Kasumi, the regular ANBU missions weren't _that_ spectacular. The irregular missions were, no question, but for a night shift guarding Uzumaki Naruto or patrolling around the village's walls…well, they wouldn't startle her out of her sleep.  
Without so much as looking at her brother, Kasumi held her rotation sheet out. Without missing a beat, Itachi had done the same, so they could cross-reference their schedule. As expected for rookies like them, they would be mainly on guard duty for apparently the next months or so. Kasumi wanted to scoff. As if they wouldn't pull them off those within the next few weeks. Sharingan users were precious and scarce within the ANBU, after all.  
And Itachi and her were _exceptional_ at using their kekkei genkai.

"You'll miss tea with the Hyūga", Itachi said, as Kasumi handed him his sheet back.  
"Ah", Kasumi nodded in affirmation, not quite unhappy with the predicament.  
Itachi shot her a look. _Don__'t be so happy about this!  
_Kasumi smiled a tiny, genuine smile and let her chakra playfully jab at Itachi's, just as they entered the training ground usually reserved for members of Team Ro.  
_Don__'t forget to wear your formal yukata._ Her smile seemed to say. Itachi looked a tiny bit sourly.

* * *

There was a surprisingly mundane routine to being ANBU. Kasumi hadn't expected that, but after two months of waking up early, changing in the locker room, training with Team Ro and shifts on either guarding Uzumaki Naruto or patrolling the village perimeter, Kasumi found, that it was strangely repetitive. It fit so perfectly into her day to day routine, that it almost baffled her.  
Clan meetings, training with Shisui, training with Itachi, spending time with Sasuke, dealing with clan politics…it all fell nicely into the schedule the ANBU dictated. Until they were cleared for more pressing, more dangerous missions, that was, of course. Up until then, everything felt…almost easy.

Nonetheless, Kasumi was restless. There were now whole districts within the village, where the Uchiha weren't welcome anymore. Some vendors even put up signs with their clan symbol crossed out. ANBU started lurking around the Military Police Station like guarding details in a prison. And the clan meetings became more acidic and filled with hatred each passing week. Even Shisui became more distant during their training and maybe that was, what hurt Kasumi the most. Though it wasn't what worried her the most.  
Something big was brewing and Kasumi didn't like it. The looks Itachi shared with her, told her enough to know, that he didn't like it either.

The day, that marked their third month within ANBU found them both sitting next to each other on a branch of a tree, looking down at their training team mates. They sat close together, their shoulders touching and their chakra mingling like one. Kasumi let her gaze roam beyond the training ground to where she could see the village's core in the distance.  
"It's beautiful, isn't it?", she said lowly, so only her twin could understand her. _It__'s worth protecting.  
_"A fragile beauty", Itachi nodded. _There__'s something brewing. Something big.  
_Kasumi turned her head to look at her brother. Her eyes depths of love and fear. _Our clan is brewing up a war.  
_Itachi nodded. His chakra gently caressing his sister's anxiously swirling one in an attempt to comfort her.  
"A beauty _we_ need to protect", Kasumi murmured after a while. _We need to do something about our clan.  
_Itachi looked at her for a moment, then he turned his head to direct his gaze towards the blue sky above them.  
"Hai."

During the next weeks Kasumi tried to subtly influence her father into negotiations with the Sandaime. She tried to argue, that bloodshed only led to more bloodshed and an uprising of the Uchiha would inevitably lead to a civil war within Hi no Kuni.  
It was a futile endeavour.

Itachi and her spent more time training only the two of them, isolating themselves from their clan unintentionally. They couldn't bear the Curse of Hatred burning away, what had finally become a clan filled with love and unity. Fear grabbed their hearts, whenever they had Sasuke with them. Sweet, little Sasuke. He and the other children of the clan would be those, who'd suffer the most.  
Because as powerful as the Uchiha clan was…they couldn't hope to stand a chance against the combined forces of all of Konoha. Especially not, when neither Itachi nor Kasumi had any inclination to fight alongside their kin.

They struggled. Together and each of them individually.  
Kasumi loved her family. She loved her clan. She even loved their pride. Kasumi loved her father and loved her mother and she would go to hell and back for her brothers. But as weeks flew by without her making any progress in changing her clan's thirst for vengeance against their treatment, Kasumi began to realise, that she wouldn't be able to save them all. _She had to choose.  
_When Itachi came into her room one evening, his expression grave and he just slipped under her blanket in need of her body next to his, Kasumi knew, that he had come to the same conclusion.

* * *

"Where's your head, Kasumi?"

Kasumi blinked and looked to her left, just to find the inquisitive stare of her taichō boring into her eyes. They sat both on a tree branch, observing the guard shifts of the temple beneath them. For three days now, they had observed the temple to find a pattern in the shifts and analyse a weakness.  
Six months into her ANBU career, this marked the first mission she tag-teamed with only her taichō. Usually it was Kō or Tenzō, who were her mission partners. Sometimes Yōji, because as brilliant as Kasumi was, her sensory range wasn't that impressive to be honest. And her kenjutsu skills were too similar to Yūgao's to pair them together more often.

She couldn't see much of Kakashi due to the masks they wore, but she could hear the chiding in his voice and see the slight amusement in his bi-coloured eyes.  
"I was wondering, whether we'd be out of their range by dinner", she lied easily, although she knew, that Kakashi would be able to see the lie. She also knew, that he wouldn't push her to reveal her thoughts.  
"Just keep alert", he huffed, as Kasumi had expected. She simply nodded and turned her head back to the temple.  
The plan was to sneak in during the next guard change. Kasumi was to incapacitate the guard with genjutsu, while Kakashi would switch the scroll they were after with a fake one.

When Kakashi gave the signal with a simple sign of one hand, Kasumi shunshined to the closest guard. Her Sharingan spun and the first guard slumped against the wall in a deep slumber.  
Kasumi wasn't cruel and since they didn't have an order to kill, she went to the next guard to send him into a peaceful genjutsu as well. A pleasant dream would make sure, that the guards thought they had fallen asleep during duty. They would be too embarrassed to say anything about it, possibly even fearing for their position, and thus the exact time the scroll was stolen would remain a mystery.  
Between Kakashi and Kasumi, the mission was ridiculously easy and didn't take longer than five minutes until they were save on their way back to Hi no Kuni.

They ran at high speed through the forest. Their steps secure, as they pushed their bodies from one branch to the other.  
"Kakashi-taichō", Kasumi suddenly caught Kakashi's attention. He looked at her running next to him. Hair flying in a wild ponytail and arms held behind her to stabilise her fast run.  
"Hai?", he acknowledged her.  
"You said team work is the most important thing for a ninja", Kasumi began hesitantly, what caused Kakashi's brows to furrow slightly beneath the porcelain mask. "That our comrades are more important, than the mission."  
She tilted her head for a second to see, if he was listening. His crackling chakra a not yet entirely familiar feeling next to her, so that she hadn't yet been able to decipher emotions from it. But he seemed curious enough to humour her.

"Where do you draw the line, though?", Kasumi asked, her eyes stubbornly fixed ahead. Kakashi shot her another look. _Where was this coming from?  
_"What do you mean?", he enquired, not quite certain where the conversation was heading. Kasumi's chakra seemed to swirl a bit faster underneath her skin. It felt a bit anxious.  
"Say, one of your most trusted comrades — Tenzō, for example", she began and the scowl on Kakashi's face deepened. Tenzō and him made a conscious effort not to seem too close to each other. That she had picked up on their relationship regardless…  
"Say, he betrayed the mission. For example opening the scroll we just stole, although we shouldn't. What would you do?"  
Kakashi didn't have to ponder long about it. "Well, I guess I'd tell the Sandaime and see, that he would be punished according to the crime", he answered.  
"And if he killed one of his own team mates? Or if he sabotaged a mission? What then?", she pushed further.  
"Ah", Kakashi said, when he figured what she was aiming for. "You mean to ask, where to draw the line with betrayal?"  
"Hai", her answer was short and hard.  
"Why?"  
Kasumi's next step almost missed the branch. But she had caught herself quickly. Kakashi had noticed it, though. There wasn't much he _didn__'t_ notice, really.  
"Because I want to understand, what it means to be a ninja of Konohagakure, I guess", she answered and this time, Kakashi didn't know whether it was a lie or not.  
"I guess it depends on the crime committed", he said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "If the safety of the village was to be severely threatened, for example, then that is something I can't forgive."  
Kasumi tilted her head to him again, scrutinising him from beneath her mask for a moment, before she turned her gaze back ahead.  
"Would you kill him for that?"

Kakashi would never admit it, but he was relieved when he felt hostile chakra signatures enter his range before he had to answer that question.  
"Six hostile incoming. Three o'clock", he bit out instead. His body instinctively dropped into a fighting stance and he opened his left eye to let his sharingan _see_.

Kasumi shot past him, katana at the ready and her shunshin faster, than he had seen it before. _Hadn__'t Itachi said, that they trained with Shinshin no Shisui?_ Kakashi blocked a senbon flying his way, easily. A stinging smell lingering in the air for the fraction of a second.  
"Poison", he called out to Kasumi. In an instant, she blew a wave of harsh wind at the multiple senbon flying their way. _Huh, that was new.  
_Kakashi pulled shuriken from his pouch and retaliated in equal to their opponents. Of course, they didn't do much damage. Their opponents were skilled.  
Hitai-ate from Kusa, specialised weaponry, flak jackets. Most likely jōnin-levelled.  
He made a clone to substitute for him, just as Kasumi shunshined next to one of the attacking Kusa-nin. Steel gleamed in the dying light of the sun.  
Then blood splattered. A gurgling sound. A thud.

But Kakashi was already focusing on his own opponents. He ducked underneath a powerful swing with a long sword, just to take a shunshin forward and ram his kunai into the soft tissue of his opponent's throat. Warmth splattered over his mask and what little of his skin was exposed. Kakashi looked around for a second, observing how his clone distracted another Kusa-nin so Kasumi could go in for the kill. He noticed, that she didn't use her katon in the fight, neither shuriken or kunai. Only her just recently acquired fūton and her katana. _Clever kid._ The corpses would point towards Suna and not Konoha.  
His hair stood on end, as he felt a powerful chakra shoot past him. Wind blades compressed to thin little needles swished past him to embed themselves into his next opponent. Kakashi swiftly went in with another precise stab of his kunai.  
Metal clang against metal as the Kusa-nin blocked the attack. Kakashi let the kunai fall into his other hand, surprising his opponent. A second later, warm blood pooled over his non-dominant hand, as he had rammed the kunai in the fifth intercostal space and forced the kunai in an upwards motion, effectively piercing his opponent's heart.  
Next thing he saw was Kasumi swinging at the last opponent. She missed. Or rather, the Kusa-nin barely dodged, her blade only cutting the skin on his shoulder.  
A gleam of steel.  
Kakashi's muscles coiled and snapped within the fraction of a moment.

He grunted, when the kunai embedded itself in his lower back. But his eyes were fixed on the small figure shielded by his taller body.  
A set of dark eyes beneath a porcelain mask widened slightly. Then Kasumi was gone.

Kakashi heard a blade sing and then another thud.

His muscles tensed, when he felt a presence appear behind him. A second later, he recognised the chakra signature and relaxed again.  
"I'll remove the kunai now, Kakashi-taichō", Kasumi said utterly calm from behind him. "Please prepare yourself." Kakashi held his breath and the next moment an uncomfortable sting shot up to his left shoulder and down his left leg.  
"It's thankfully not that bad and there's no poison, but I'm not particularly good at iryō-jutsu, so please bear with me, taichō", the soft voice of his team mate wafted to Kakashi's ears. Only a moment later, he felt the warm, prickling sensation of medical jutsu.  
"I think this will do."  
Kakashi turned as soon as he didn't feel the prickling sensation anymore. Kasumi stood next to him, her uniform and mask splattered with crimson blood slowly turning darker, until it would be a brown crust on the clothes. It was a bit of an eerie sight, but one Kakashi has grown familiar with. Itachi wasn't that much taller than her after all.  
"You good?", Kakashi asked nonetheless, as he straightened his back and tested out how much pain moving caused him.  
"I should ask you this, taichō", she countered and he could just _feel_ her disapproving stare on him. "There's no need to take a kunai for me. I'm perfectly capable of—"  
"I know", Kakashi cut her off, his eyes darting to Kasumi for a second, before he assessed the damage around them. "But you're my team mate and I protect my team mates." That seemed to shut her up pretty effectively.  
"I found this on one of them", she said instead of arguing further and handed him a scroll with a distinctive seal on it. "They were a jōnin squad on their way back from a mission in Suna."  
"Ah", Kakashi nodded, his eyes skimming over the Suna insignia on the scroll. "That's why you used only fūton and your katana. It would be logical for Suna-nin to follow them. Quick thinking."  
"Hai", Kasumi simply said, completely ignoring the praise. It probably wasn't much of a praise anyway. Her and Itachi were brilliant minds. Kakashi knew from experience, that it came naturally and thus was nothing one as them wanted to be praised for.  
"Come", he then ordered, after he put the Suna-scroll in one of his pouches. "If we hurry, we're back on home soil for dinner."  
Kakashi smiled a bit, as he heard a tiny sigh come from her, clearly recognising his little jab at her previous lie.

The rest of their mission went smoothly and they arrived back in Konoha two days later.  
As soon as they had entered the locker room of Team Ro, they both stripped out of their ruined flak jackets. Kasumi sighed inwardly, as she looked at the dried blood on it. This would be a nightmare to get out of the material. She only heard soft rustling of fabric, as Kakashi removed his ruined uniform behind her.  
It was a standing rule within the locker room, that everyone minded their own business and kept their eyes on their locker. It had taken a while and Itachi was still not very happy about it, but by now Kasumi felt comfortable to strip out of her trousers and into a pair of tight combat pants. Her under armour had blood on it's collar, so she stripped out of that too and slid into a shirt and her yukata.  
Judging by the lack of noise, Kakashi had finished changing earlier than her. Kasumi turned to see him casually leaning against the lockers, his back towards her.  
"Taichō", she addressed him to let him know he could look again. Kakashi tilted his head to look over his shoulder, single sharingan gleaming in the dimly lit room.  
"I will report to Danzō-sama and bring him this", he said and held up the scroll they had stolen, as well as the Suna-scroll. "You're dismissed."  
"Hai, Kakashi-taichō", Kasumi nodded and walked past him to exit the locker room. She felt his eyes on her the whole way.

"Kasumi."  
The girl stopped right in front of the door and turned. Kakashi had a pensive expression on his face, heavy-lidded eyes boring into her in a way, that made her want to squirm. But she was an Uchiha and Uchiha did not squirm.  
"That question you asked…", he began in a low tone. "The answer is 'yes'. I would kill him."  
Kasumi's eyes widened a fraction, barely visible, if one didn't pay as close attention as Kakashi did.  
Then she bowed her head slightly. "Thank you for being honest with me, taichō", she said, still not fully broken out of her overly-polite mannerisms. Especially not around him. "I will leave first."  
With that she left a pondering Kakashi.

* * *

Kasumi entered the Uchiha compound through the main gate. She looked up at the Uchiha guards stationed on the roofs, their chakra signatures well-hidden. On the roof opposite to the main gate, Kasumi felt the faint chakra signatures of ANBU. A few years ago, there hadn't been guards. There hadn't been the need for them. On either side. A crow flew past, diverting her attention, as her dark eyes followed it's flight.  
Maybe she should see, if Shisui was around. Sasuke was still at the Academy and at the ANBU building they had told her, that Itachi had been dispatched on a mission a day ago. His first solo mission as an ANBU. Although she knew, that there was no reason to worry…she did worry nonetheless. Just like Itachi had worried when she had been on her first ANBU solo mission two weeks ago.

Eventually Kasumi found her way onto the porch, that overlooked the koi pond her father loved so much. The beautiful fish lazily drifting beneath the rippling surface. Kasumi sat down, held her face into the sun and closed her eyes. She felt almost content.  
She was a proud kunoichi of Konohagakure. And even more pride resided in the fact, that she was an Uchiha. Old blood. Powerful blood.

_The answer is __'yes'._

How much was her pride worth, when lives were at stake, though?

_I would kill him._

She opened her eyes and lazily blinked against the blue sky. It would be there no matter what. Whether her clan would try to overthrow the Hokage or not. Whether she would stop it or not. Blood _would_ be spilt either way, Kasumi knew that. And who was she to choose _whose_ blood would be spilt?  
Wasn't it the circle of life to be born and die? Men and women alike, civilians and ninja, childre—

Kasumi's head fell down, a small frown burrowing a line in between her brows.  
The children would suffer the most, if there was to be a civil war. It were always the children, that suffered.  
She remembered the suffering. The crippling fear. The nauseating screams from injured ninja. The stench in the hospital. War wasn't pretty.  
And Kasumi had sworn, that she would do anything in her power to stop a war from ever happening again. Wasn't that her ninja way, her Nindō? Hers and Itachi's? Had she lost her way already…?

"Nee~ Kasu-chan? Why are you so glum?"

Kasumi was proud, that she did not jump in fright. The line between her brows smoothed out as she looked up and into the smiling face of Shisui. In this moment, he seemed to Kasumi as if he was a second sun, chasing away those dark clouds around her head.  
"Just pondering the meaning of life", Kasumi answered casually, a tiny smile curling around her lips despite herself. For a second Shisui looked concerned and Kasumi knew, that he wouldn't forget about it, even if he may not press the topic now. He widened his smile some more, his eyes wrinkling and closing half-way with it.  
"Why don't you ponder your shunshin speed with me, instead?", he asked warmly and extended his hand down towards Kasumi to help her stand up.  
"I guess, I'd like that", the girl said and took his offered hand. It was warm and comforting, just like his chakra. With a strong pull, Shisui had her standing.

"You know, I might be up for promotion to Jōnin", Shisui started to rattle on to distract her from whatever bothered her, as they walked over the porch, their steps silent and careful.  
"That's amazing, Shisui-kun", Kasumi smiled at him, her eyes meeting his with honest praise.  
"Ah…hehe", he grinned and scratched the back of his neck, a slight dust of pink on his cheeks. "It's nothing, really."  
"It's not nothing", Kasumi rejected his dismissal instantly. "I know, you've worked hard for this. You deserve it more than most."  
"I'm just trying to make the clan proud", Shisui said a bit embarrassed. Kasumi huffed at that, eliciting a strange look from Shisui at her improper mannerism.  
"This is not about the clan, Shisui-kun", she said sternly, her gaze firmly set ahead. For a scarily long moment, Shisui felt reminded of Fugaku.  
"This is about you", Kasumi elaborated with a small gesture towards him. "About _your_ accomplishment. About how hard _you_ worked for this. It is expected of us to be nothing less than _exceptional_." She huffed again. "We are Uchiha. So of course, making jōnin or ANBU is not really such a big feat, is it now?" She shot him a surprisingly wry smile. A bit of her bitterness from before still clinging to her words. Maybe ANBU had changed her already.  
"For what it's worth", she said lowly and averted her gaze again. "_I_ am proud of you, Shisui-kun." Kasumi was a bit embarrassed about her words. But Shisui was her friend and as humble as he was, becoming jōnin at his age and especially during the current times, was impressive. She needed him to know that.

A warm, heavy hand gently landed on her head. Shisui leaned down to be closer to her, a small, utterly genuine smile on his lips and his eyes looking at nothing but her.  
"Thanks, Kasu-chan", he said softly. "It's worth a lot." Kasumi felt her cheeks heat up.  
"Eh", she dismissed as gracefully as possible. "What did you say about shunshin, again?"  
"Ne~, ne~, Kasu-chan", Shisui let go of her and grinned his beaming smile. "Are you embarrassed?"  
"Of course not", Kasumi said curtly, but she could feel the heat burning in her cheeks. They were probably as brightly glowing as a sharingan by now. Shisui's bright laughter followed her, as she shunshined away from him and to the training ground. He still had an amused smile on his lips, when he appeared right next to her and they started training.  
_Baka_. Kasumi couldn't help but to smile.

* * *

Training with Shisui definitely had made Kasumi faster. She appeared in the Hokage's office almost a full two seconds before her twin. Both were clad in their ANBU gear but with their masks pushed to the side and immediately crouched down in a deferential position. One knee on the ground, their heads lowered.  
"Sandaime-sama", they said in unison.  
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood at the window of his office, his back turned towards the two young Uchiha, as his eyes travelled across the village. Dusk was settling over the roofs and the brightly orange glow of the setting sun dipped everything into a faint golden light. He took a pull from his pipe and puffed the smoke out.

"You requested a meeting", he said, his voice rough and weathered.  
Neither Itachi nor Kasumi dared to look at each other. Their chakras mingled to assure themselves, that they were doing the right thing. But for a second Kasumi hesitated.  
They could stop their treason now. Before the words were spoken. Before they would damn at least parts of their clan to death. Including their father.

"The Uchiha are planning a coup d'état", Itachi said, his voice firm and unwavering.  
Kasumi exhaled a shaky breath. It was done. There was no way back now.

The Hokage did not turn towards them, but they could see him lowering his head almost as if in defeat.  
"I feared as much", he said. Kasumi wet her lips. "The animosities from the villagers have grown, haven't they?"  
"It is…unpleasant", Kasumi answered. "But what actually causes the hatred to simmer is—" She stopped mid-sentence. "May I speak openly, Sandaime-sama?", she asked instead of finishing the thought.  
"You may", came the answer and with that, the Hokage turned around to look at them.  
"The problem is the distrust from the Council and at times, yourself, Sandaime-sama", Kasumi explained in a flat tone. Despite her crouched position, she seemed as tall as the room, her voice filling every corner, her eyes fixed on the Hokage. "We know the ANBU have shifts to watch us. We notice the cases pulled from the Military Police Force, because they could be related to the Kyūbi Attack or are considered too delicate to the village. We see how others are promoted before an Uchiha. Most of the Clan Elders can't accept, that it will take time to regain the trust our whole clan has apparently lost."  
Hiruzen noted, that while Itachi spoke in a detached way about his clan, Kasumi still held onto the singular plural form.  
"Blunt and to the point as always, Kasumi-san", the Sandaime said. "And correct, as usual."  
"We are not asking for you to take officially the Uchiha side, Sandaime-sama", Itachi spoke up. "The clan is too far gone for that to change anything. Kasumi and I want to ensure the least bloodshed possible."

The Sandaime looked down at the crouching twins. So young still and such a burden on their shoulders. To betray their own clan like that… Their Will of Fire was admirable and yet…in this instance, it saddened him to see it burn so brightly. It would cause them a heartbreak unimaginable, if they couldn't spark that same fire within the rest of their clan.  
"Maybe bloodshed can be avoided", he said and turned away from them. "Uchiha Shisui has already informed me about the treason of your clan."  
Kasumi's eyes widened and her mouth formed the name. Even Itachi's chakra seemed to spike in surprise.  
"For now", the Hokage continued, "work with him, observe and report back to me."  
"Hai, Sandaime-sama", came the two-voiced answer. He felt a flicker of warm chakra and both vanished. A sudden cold crept into the office.

A deep sigh broke from his lips. Maybe he should find a successor. He was getting tired of the politics, that came with his position. Especially politics involving the Uchiha. That was always messy and too emotional.  
He took another deep pull from his pipe. He had to speak with Danzō about the situation. Something had to be done.

* * *

TRIVIA:

Uchiha Mikoto and Uzumaki Kushina met at a B-rank mission, when Kushina was a chūnin and Mikoto led the mission as a jōnin.  
They were close friends ever since then, despite Mikoto being nine years older. Fugaku and Minato never quite saw eye to eye, though, but they never dared to tell their wives.  
Kushina adored Itachi and Kasumi, which ultimately led her to wish for a child of her own.  
Kushina and Mikoto secretly wished, that their children would marry, so they'd be officially family.

* * *

_Heya guys,_

_here's another chapter!_  
_Thank you so much for all the support you're showing Chasing Red Camellias! _

_This is a bit of a time crunch chapter...as will be the next one. But I hope you can still feel, how things progress?_  
_Also a bit of Kakashi and Kasumi action in this one. Their first mission as a two-men cell!  
I really hope Kakashi is somewhat in character?_

_And can I just say, that I simply adore Shisui?!_

_As always, I'd love to hear feedback from you. It helps so much and really makes me proud!_

_Read ya soon,_  
_Murphy_

_PS.: Kasumi's still too young for romance, but nonetheless Happy Valentine's Day!_

* * *

_Guest: Ah, thank you. I guess, it does make sense to have her quite powerful. Otherwise I shouldn't have made her Itachi's twin, ne? Thanks for your review and I hope I can continue to entertain you._

_CapNHound: Oh. Wow. Uh...that actually made me blush. And grin like a madman. Thank you for the compliment! I'm...yeah, just thank you._

_HaphazardChemical: Thank you! I try to make it as unique as possible, while using an Uchiha-OC. It's a guilty pleasure, really. And honestly, Itachi deserved to have someone have his back. Hehe, I'm excited myself._

_SierraHotel: It felt like the right time to start. I wanted to show the Uchiha before the massacre and how Kasumi fits in. So I can later show, how much the massacre influenced everything. Thanks four your review!_

_Diver-Sara: Aw~, thank you. I already have rough ideas and specific plot points on how Kasumi will fit into the arcs. But I guess it'll take a while until we get there...the massacre happens in chapter seven...so we still got a bit to go._

_Ambrose: Thank you for your interest and the review! I'm not yet certain on how much the plot will differ from canon. I don't want to have Kasumi steal anyone's thunder...but, of course, there will be differences. Maybe not entirely in the way how canon develops, but certainly in the way why canon develops._

_Rsaenz18: It is my absolute pleasure to update this story. Thank you for your review! _

_Sjlovesstories: Thank you for reviewing! I'm already writing chapter 10, so...there's a bit of a buffer. Thank you for following!_


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